bend my finger back
by Canadino
Summary: Rumor has it, Momoi Satsuki is dating model-actor Kise Ryouta. Truth is, she isn't. Another truth - neither is Daiki.
1. Chapter 1

"I'm supposedly dating Kise Ryouta, by the way," Momoi Satsuki said.

Aomine Daiki looked up from one of the tabloids from her coffee table that he had begun flipping through. He flipped another page. She continued mixing her clay mask in a tiny green bowl. Her hair was already pushed back and tied up, a handkerchief in place to keep her bangs out of her face. He called it her 'staying-in' look because she took painful means to make sure every strand was in its rightful place whenever she left the house. For someone whose skills were diverse enough to make even the oldest face look young and the youngest look even younger, Momoi Satsuki was proud of her presentation of herself as a flawless, sleek working woman. It worked for her.

She did not look particularly distressed or pleased about the news.

"'Supposedly'?" Aomine said. "Kise Ryouta?"

"Oh, you know. You really liked him in that one movie you saw last month." Aomine also did not watch enough movies that this would have been a particularly brain-teasing question. "The one about the end of the world that I worked on. I gave you tickets for the opening premiere."

"Oh yeah," Aomine said. "The guy who they found in the underground bunker? The one who was always supposed to look disheveled but had hair that looked carefully put together?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. But what do you mean by 'supposedly'?"

"Well, some tabloid took a few pictures of us when we were on set and they're nothing really scandalous but his agent thinks it'll be good publicity for when we're supposed to work together again for a new Takeshi Kitano production in a few months. They're compensating me generously and we've agreed to keep it strictly professional, so I figured why not? He certainly isn't difficult on the eyes."

Aomine turned back and read a few lines about some television drama star's recent romantic tryst. "That's a weird situation," he said, for lack of a better thing to say. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because we'll be having dinner together, the three of us, on Thursday night."

Aomine closed the flimsy magazine with the most dramatic indignation he could muster. "What!" he said, but she did not pause or startle; in fact, the way she applying the mask on her face seemed even more purposefully calm and cool as if to spite him. "Look, I have no intention of third-wheeling some weird not-date date thing with you. And anyway, I probably have practice then."

"I already checked your schedule, Dai-chan, and you did have practice but I called in a favor with your coach. And I didn't want you there either but Kise's agent said that it would make a good story to have a rising, popular actor with his famous girlfriend and her professional basketball player best friend in one place." She giggled. "Can you believe it? Me? Famous!"

Aomine made a face. For once, he regretted signing on to a professional team. "Look," he said. "Look. I...um, have no interest in going on a date with you and some fancy pretty boy. You know I don't really like to get into your personal life and stuff. I mean, what would I even talk about? You two are the ones who are in the movie business...he can talk about acting and you can talk about makeup and...I bet he doesn't even watch basketball."

"He follows the NBL pretty closely, actually. He's actually looking forward to meeting you, so don't say things like that. And I already made reservations for three and it would be really awful to have to reschedule. Come on, Dai-chan. We've been friends for years and years. You can do one little thing for me, can't you?" She finally looked up at him and he recoiled to see her doe eyes, framed behind thick eyelashes. She had mastered the art of looking up at someone in shy pleading, batting her eyes and acting generally bashful. He had experienced it since they were twelve but he had never been able to become fully immune to it.

"Fine," he grumbled. "Fine, but you owe me. Big time." He threw the tabloid onto the coffee table, trying to convey as much malice as possible. He was irritated, yes, but not really angry; Momoi never liked coming to him for favors if she didn't have to and he still had yet to fully thank her for having gotten him to the scouting event for JBL after he had woken up with forty minutes to spare to get to the court. She had been a fabulous gem, having called him a cab from the set and pulled some strings all the way over in Hokkaido after she had called him to make sure he had been on his way and he had answered groggy in bed. "I probably will be boring and look like a commoner next to you two, though. Just a warning."

"I'll make sure you look dashing. Kise's a fan! He'll probably chat your ear off."

[=]

"Aomine Daiki?" Kise Ryouta said, sparkling and looking perfect as if he had a personal Momoi Satsuki at his bedside to quickly make him up every morning. "I'm a big fan. It's so nice to meet you."

Aomine looked down at the hand outstretched before him. The palm looked so soft and the nails were well cared for. He considered his calloused and bitten nails and wished he had asked Momoi to do an emergency manicure for him or something. "Yeah," he said. "Likewise." He offered his hand and jumped when Kise squeezed it before letting go. Momoi had forewarned him that they were dining at a nice, black-tie-black-dress establishment so he had gotten his best suit pressed and relearned how to tie a tie but he did not think he would ever be prepared for that sort of life. His shoes were tight and his cuffs were itchy. Kise was looking quite fetching and he did not feel the need to play with his sparkling silver cufflinks like Aomine did. Momoi beamed at them between them in her lace collared gown.

"You have a game coming up?" Kise asked by way of conversation, casually perusing the wine list. Aomine's back naturally slumped in his seat and he fought to keep his posture straight; Momoi's chin was up - "Sit like you have a string around your neck tied to the ceiling!" - and Kise was lounging easily. "How do you feel about it?"

"Uh," Aomine said, even though this was a topic of conversation that he was very well versed in. Somehow he did not even fathom that Kise would talk about such things and he was caught off guard. "Well. Well, I guess. We've been going over old footage and preparing for the tricks they usually pull."

"Excellent," Kise said, and Aomine thought he was probably the only person he'd met who could say 'excellent' without sounding like a pretentious asshole. There was just a way Kise had with delivering words that sounded so genuine, so real despite Aomine knowing about his skill at parroting the script on screen. "I heard that a Japanese who's been playing on the LA Lakers has been talking about coming back to play for the NBL. Kagami Taiga. Do you know him?"

"Not personally."

"What do you think of his playing style? Do you think he'd be good for the Seahorses?"

"He should come with us if he wants to win," Aomine said without thinking. "I'm on the team and I'm pretty confident we'll win the League, so if his intention is to come back and actually win…" He felt the sharp point of Momoi's heel crash into his shin and he winced. Be good, the kick said. "...but of course, it's up to him. He's a pretty decent player. Not as good as me." He couldn't help it; Momoi's lips were pursed.

Kise laughed. "I like you," he said. That sounded weird. "You're so honest. I think honesty is an admirable thing. I don't know when the last time I could really be myself was." Aomine wondered if Kise's smile was real. He wondered more as Kise leaned over to Momoi, purposefully affectionate. "Which wine were you thinking of, dear?" Aomine had never heard anyone call Momoi 'dear'.

"Maybe one of the moscatos," she said, her voice sweet. "I'm not really a bitter girl."

"Does a white moscato sit well with you, Aomine-san?" Kise asked, his formality make Aomine feel even more out of ease. The seats were cushioned and pillowy and the dim lighting made him nervous. The court was always so substantial and bright. The team always made an effort to host publicity events in a public space, catering and everything, and so he had rarely had to sit through multiple course meals during his rise to fame. Kise was looking at him so earnestly.

"Yeah," Aomine said. "Yeah, that's fine."

Kise and Momoi talked over appetizers and Aomine picked at his shrimp cocktail. They were probably going through the twentieth iteration of passing drills at practice. His hands itched to throw something. "Aomine-san, have you heard of Akashi Seijuro?" Kise asked suddenly.

"Who?" He glanced at Momoi and remembered. "Oh. The director guy. Satsuki complained about him before."

"Yeah?" Kise was very charming with his hand under his chin. His hair looked very good. "And what do you think of him based on what you've heard?"

It was probably a trick question, trapping him into saying something ridiculous. Momoi had a hand over her mouth, a habit of hers whenever she was trying to keep a straight face. They were leaning toward each other in a way that might suggest intimacy, but Momoi's torso was angled out toward Aomine and they had not even shifted their chairs. "He sounds like a personality," Aomine settled.

"That's one way to put it," Momoi agreed.

"He is," Kise said. "But he's also revolutionary. Everything he works on always finishes so polished and efficient. It almost makes working with him worth it. His father was also a famous director, did you know?"

"Hmm," Aomine hummed, dipping a shrimp into the sauce.

"He did a lot of really good period pieces. Have you ever seen _Between the Plum Blossoms?_"

"Dai-chan doesn't really watch a lot of movies," Momoi interjected.

"I do too," Aomine insisted, momentarily unsure of why he felt the need to defend himself. His success was primarily on the court, not his cinematic knowledge. Kise had spoken of the film so reverently. "But...I haven't seen that one."

"Really? I would thought that Satsuki would have made you watch it. It's a makeup artist and designer's paradise." Kise said Momoi's name in such an uneasy way, like he was still testing it out on his tongue. Couples would let first names slide out of their mouths much smoother than that. Gossip magazines did not really analyze their subjects. "The main lead was a rare find because they liked the way he delivered some of the lines but he was supposed to play a man thirty years his senior and there was no way he could have pulled it off."

"I watched it during cosmetology school," Momoi said. "It was extremely inspiring." He didn't know she'd watched that, but then again he never really asked questions about her work. Momoi was always the one more invested in basketball than he was in her career.

"I have a copy at my place," Kise offered. "You could come by and see it if you'd like." Aomine had put another shrimp in his mouth before he realized Kise had been speaking to him. Momoi was looking at him over her wine glass.

"I...okay, sure."

"Did you know I used to play basketball back in middle and high school?" Kise said conversationally as Aomine was digging into his roast chicken. The showbiz kids, as Aomine had mentally labeled them, had been busy deep in conversation about some tensions on set and how to properly resolve them and he had again sounded them out. He had a mouthful of chicken in his mouth. He struggled to chew quickly as Kise waited patiently. "I was a small forward."

"Really?" Aomine said, mid swallow. He saw Momoi sniff subtly out of the corner of his eye, her mouth turned up ever so slightly. When they had finished their discussion, he could not say. "That's…what made you stop?"

"It was never really something that I intended to do in the long term," Kise shrugged, spearing into his salmon. "Just something to pass the time. Maybe if I had met someone in high school who really motivated me to keep playing, things would have been different. It was fun while it lasted." Kise looked up, gazing at Aomine through his eyelashes and he had seen Momoi do that several times when they went out together and he felt his palms sweat suddenly. "Imagine it though, if we met on the court instead of in this restaurant."

"Yeah." His voice was steady even though he suddenly felt the urge to go somewhere and shoot some hoops. All the sitting was making him impatient. "That would be something."

Aomine was on the train back to his apartment when Momoi called him. It sounded quiet where she was; he figured Kise had gotten a driver to take her home. "Wasn't that nice?" she asked. "Wasn't he sweet? It makes you kind of wish you were dating him, doesn't it?" There was a note of laughter in her voice and it made him nervous.

"No," Aomine insisted. "I wasn't thinking that at all."

[=]

But Momoi's life was her life and after a few days Aomine's life went back to normal. He went to practice and argued with his landlord over his stove and its faulty pilot light. He answered Momoi's calls every Wednesday and Friday at four in the afternoon and soothed her fears that he was on his way to death's door without her constant watch. His suit began gathering dust again in the back of his closet. On Friday, Kise Ryouta called him on his personal phone.

"Hello?" Aomine said, not recognizing the number on the screen.

"Hi, Aomine-san!" the voice on the other line chirped back. Aomine took a moment to place it. "It's me, Kise. I hope I caught you at a good time."

"It's fine," Aomine said. He'd just finished practice and was feeling a little tired and a lot sweaty. The evening air was sweet on his skin as he walked back to the apartment near the training facility. "How did you get my number?"

"I asked Momoi for it. I hope that's okay."

Aomine did not want to say it was okay because he did not know if it was yet. "Aren't you worried that I might plaster your number everywhere for your dedicated little fans to see?"

There was a long pause. "I didn't really think about that," Kise admitted. "My manager always tells me to use the private phone on set."

"You're actually calling from your personal?" Aomine laughed. "Why would you want to do that?"

"I said you should watch _Between the Plum Blossoms_, didn't I? When are you free to come over?"

Aomine remembered the exchange. "I didn't think you were being serious," he said. "I had no intention of watching it." Momoi might call him cold and insensitive but that was what he thought. It wasn't unusual that someone with Kise's amount of fame and workload would offer something casually but have no follow-up.

"Oh," Kise said.

"So," Aomine said. "I mean. We could." He felt awkward now and this was Momoi's supposed new boyfriend. Even if they weren't really seeing each other and sleeping with each other, he supposed he shouldn't ruin Momoi's image by being some jerk best friend. He didn't really want to see the movie, though. "If you really want."

"Or we could play basketball. It wasn't that long since I played. That probably is more interesting to you anyway."

Why do you want to spend time with me? Aomine wanted to ask but he had the social wherewithal to hold back. He wondered if movie stars had friends. Certainly if he wanted someone with which he could hold a conversation, Kise ought to actively seek out Momoi. Did Kise forget the kind of things they talked about at dinner? "I mean, I just got out of practice so I'm not really feeling it right now, if that's what you mean."

"Oh no! Not today. Uh." Kise coughed lightly. "Sometime in the future, maybe." Then, "It's okay if you don't actually want to do anything with me. It's weird to solicit someone you don't really know, even if you're my...uh...girlfriend's best friend."

"Yeah, a little." Aomine hitched his bag a little further up his shoulder. "But I'm the envy of all your fans." Kise laughed and it sounded relieved. "I don't know about that movie, but I'm down for playing ball with you, whenever you're free."

"Okay," Kise said. He came on a Tuesday and they played on one of the smaller courts in the facility. It was clear to Aomine that Kise had taken a lengthy hiatus from basketball; his reaction times were poor and his accuracy was merely average. His stance was solid and he did not fall for the ameteur tricks Aomine tried, playing at half effort. Somehow halfway through their one-on-one, Kise's movements began to feel familiar.

"I pick things up really easily," Kise said afterwards when Aomine handed him a water without vocalizing the question. "They used to call me the mockingbird of my team because I could copy people's plays just by watching them for a bit. I've gotten rusty, but it used to be pretty good."

"You'll never be as good as the real thing," Aomine huffed, and he played Kise again to prove it.

[=]

The thing about hanging out with an a-lister, while being a b-lister yourself, was that people were bound to notice. Kise slipping off to play basketball at the SunRocker's private facility had not garnered too much attention, but once they began grabbing meals after their one on ones at local burger joints and visiting a high profile sporting goods store to buy Kise a solid pair of basketball shoes, the tabloids smelled the air and pounced.

Momoi sent him a PDF of a cover spread on one of the gossip magazines with a blurry photo of him and Kise on the street together. BEST FRIENDS OR BEST RIVALS the cover screamed. Is the Hitachi SunRockers's RISING ACE testing the waters for his BFF's new BOYFRIEND or is it SNIFFING OUT THE COMPETITION?

"Hah," Aomine scoffed.

"You and Ki-chan are getting really friendly, huh," Momoi said over the phone. "Who was it who said you guys would never get along?"

"I never said that."

"I'm happy though. I always said you don't have that many friends. I'm glad you two can hit it off like that."

Not everyone was as well receptive as Momoi. "Aomine Daiki, sir," Imayoshi Shouichi, head coach of the Hitachi SunRockers, drawled, deliberately and infuriatingly condescending. Aomine hated having private meetings with him. It was the role of the ace to be on good terms with the head coach but Aomine considered this a hassle. "Who was it again who said on the first day of training that basketball was the only thing on his mind? That he had no eyes for anyone other than the big-breasted goddess of basketball? Hmm? Could you refresh my memory?"

"Me," Aomine gritted. Irritating, yes - but Imayoshi was also quite terrifying. His sneer matched that of a king cobra, ready to strike. As much as he was feared, Imayoshi was good at his job and he got things done. Aomine could respect that.

"Yes...you...and yet what is this I'm seeing?" He flourished another tabloid, this one Aomine had not seen. It was of a photo of Kise in casual street clothes, giving Aomine who was not facing the camera a dazzling smile. The sight of it made Aomine embarrassed for some reason. The caption yelled WILL KISE ABANDON FILM FOR SPORT. "Please leave publicity matters to our public relations team, Mister Aomine. Let me remind you our handbook does mention monitoring the sort of friends you make. Please be more discreet in the future." It was obvious those 'please's were only for decoration's sake. Aomine didn't know why he was being dragged into it. More or less all the headlines were regarding Kise.

It seemed Kise had also been getting a scolding because Aomine did not hear from him for a while. Momoi had told him she had been forbidden to bring him to several events so the media could focus on their new movie instead of Kise's basketball skills ("Basketball is fun and exhilarating to me," Kise said in an interview that Aomine begrudgingly read. "But do you know what has been more exhilarating? Working with Takeshi-sensei…"). That was fine. Aomine did not itch to go. His phone rang as he laid at home, watching a movie in the dark and drinking a beer.

(It was a single beer; he swore Imayoshi could sense any fluctuations in blood alcohol content just by looking.)

It was Kise.

"Hey, _Aominecchi_," Kise said. It was a nickname that Aomine had been given as of late. It also made him feel uncomfortable, the way it was laced with some awestruck affection. It was just the way Kise operated, Momoi explained, but she was smiling with such satisfaction that it unnerved Aomine more. "What are you doing right now?"

"Watching a movie."

"Which one?"

"Uh." Aomine reached for the DVD box and glanced at it. _"Janbu Walks a Mile."_

"Oh! I'm in that one, aren't I?"

"Are you?" Aomine watched the Kise on the screen lash out at the titular Janbu over the way Janbu had been treating his sister, Janbu's on-and-off girlfriend. Kise's focus in his films rivaled that of his when he played ball. It was an attractive kind of discipline. Aomine frowned at himself. "I don't see it."

"Don't be mean~." There was a silence on the other line and Aomine thought he heard the sound of a television. "I'm watching you play basketball."

"That's creepy," Aomine said, feeling his stomach flip. "We're just watching each other on TV and talking on the phone." It wasn't strange until he said it; now he had an urge to either turn off the television or hang up. He compromised and turned the volume of the movie way down.

"I'm sorry we haven't been able to have our one-on-ones," Kise said. "It's just...I didn't expect people to get so excited about us just spending time together. My manager says it's defeating the purpose of me fake-dating Momoi-san. She says I may as well be dating you."

Aomine laughed and it sounded clipped to his own ears, each one note sound of the laugh coming out in distinct parts. "That would make a story, wouldn't it," he ended up saying, after having exhausted other possible responses.

"I've been spending so much time with you people are wondering if me and Momoi are even dating anymore." The subject matter was irritating Aomine. It didn't really even have anything to do with him.

"Then go and date her more publically then," he grumbled. It was none of his business.

"That's what I'm going to do." Kise's voice had stayed level the entire conversation and did not seem subject to change. "I've got a few more months until the release."

"Okay."

"So I can't see you that much until then, sorry."

"Okay."

"I still think we're really good friends, though."

Aomine hung up.


	2. Chapter 2

"Hey," Kagami Taiga said, extending a hand. "Nice to meet you. I'm Taiga Kagami. Oh. I mean. I guess the other way around now."

"I'm going to beat you," Aomine responded, grasping the hand in a firm handshake in lieu of a name. Predictably, it got Kagami riled up and they had barely acquainted everyone on both the SunRockers and Seahorses teams when they left the group and went for a rousing one on one match. Aomine won by two points.

"So how are you liking Japan so far?" Aomine asked, panting. His hands were shaking as he wiped his face. It had been a while since he had gone all out for any informal joust. Kagami was lying on the court floor like a spineless pile of muscle and limbs. "The jetlag isn't that bad, is it? Your Japanese is pretty good."

"I lived in Tokyo on and off when I was younger," Kagami said. "I was born here and stayed until the end of elementary school and spent my middle school years in America and came back in high school. I went back for college. My dad can't ever make up his mind which office he prefers more. It just was easier to stay where I was after I turned eighteen."

"Why did you come back?"

Kagami turned his head and it looked like it had been an ordeal to even move. "Glass ceiling," he said simply. "They're looking for a particular look and build and style in America."

Aomine could empathize. He threw Kagami a Pocari.

[=]

While their first meeting had been a happy coincidence, it seemed that the big breasted goddess of basketball had other plans. First the plumbing at the Seahorses facilities backed up, spewing sludge up from the sinks and toilets. One contractor project later, it had been determined the facility had a pretty shitty plumbing system all together. In the middle of work, a particularly harsh summer shower flooded the entire first floor. For good measure, the walls along some of the practice courts let loose mold from the drywall.

The Seahorses did not continue practice at the SunRockers's facilities. Instead, they nabbed a spot an hour away. Aomine ran into Kagami again on the train because Kagami happened to live a little west of Momoi.

"You know Momoi Satsuki?" Kagami said. "She's practically the most beautiful woman in the movie industry!"

"Yeah, yeah," Aomine shrugged. "Do you want to come meet her or something? You're coming from practice, right?"

"I'm sweaty!" Kagami yelled, frantic for a moment. He emoted hard, Aomine noticed. It seemed to be an American thing. "I can't...I can't meet her like that. I'm a mess."

"She's been watching me play for years. She's used to sweaty smelly guys by now."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Momoi said, smiling graciously. She bowed her head and blinked when Kagami offered a hand with a face like he was either slightly constipated or had never shaken a person's hand before. She looked up at him for a moment and began to reach her own hand out, white and slender and manicured with julep green nails. At once, Kagami jerked back.

"On second thought," he rambled, "my hands are kind of gross from practice."

"I wish Daichi would be more mindful of things like that," Momoi said pointedly, giving Aomine a look. Aomine watched the whole exchange and wondered why he felt a sense of deja-vu. She served them iced coffees and Kagami struggled to keep his speech polite.

"And you're...not dating her?" Kagami asked when they left. His voice was hopeful. Aomine almost laughed in his face. The idea of dating Momoi had come and gone during high school, only to be replaced by the strongest feeling of fondness possible to man. Even then, he knew the difference between friend and potential girlfriend. It wasn't that Momoi did not possess dateable traits that he liked - and she had a smokin' bod if he had to be entirely subjective - but it was just that their relationship was something different than romantic and intimate. "I mean…you know her, and it seems like for a really long time now, so...I don't want to be...uh...infringing on anything."

"Did you say you wanted to date her?" Aomine asked, purposefully ignoring the question momentarily to torment Kagami, who looked as innocent and lovestruck as a middle schooler.

"Uh! No!" Kagami fumbled with his bag, pulling out a shirt before putting it back and acting as if that was what he had intended. "Well. Maybe. If I have a chance. I mean, a lot of people would want that, I think." He wasn't looking Aomine in the face.

"Well, I'm not dating her. I have no intention to. But you may as well give up, because she's apparently spoken for."

Kagami's eyes were wide and impassioned. "Who?"

The name died in Aomine's throat and he forced out the corpse. "Kise. Kise Ryouta." The confusion he felt over his hesitation changed into frustration quickly. He couldn't really place the source.

"That big name actor?" Kagami blinked. "He doesn't really seem like her type."

"How would you know her type? You just met her."

"Uh...I don't know. Just a feeling. Like they don't really click as...a couple, I guess. She seems to be the type to really dig guys with big muscles and stuff. I mean. Not that I'm trying to say anything, my muscles aren't really that big." He was digging himself into a hole but Aomine understood what he meant. Kise was Momoi's kind of fancy and spotless. They were very much alike in that sort of glitzy way. Aomine didn't think much about it, but in retrospect, Momoi's suitors tended to be on the plain side. He didn't think it was because she wanted to outshine them; no, she seemed to relish simplicity after working hours and hours of putting one layer upon layer of makeup and mixing and painting.

Aomine decided to relent. "If I can be honest with you," he said.

"Yeah," Kagami nodded. Kagami was a kindred spirit too, Aomine thought. He did not even know this man for more than a few weeks, but he felt the same kind of comfort with him like he did with Momoi. With Momoi, she had been with him when he was growing into his skin so she knew his vulnerabilities and he knew hers. With Kagami, it seemed the basketball goddess had sewn them together over a mutual love of the game. He certainly did not act or carry himself like a sellout who thrived on the attention. Aomine thought Kagami would play basketball even if he only stayed in a neighborhood court. He would be the same.

"They're not really dating."

Kagami frowned. "Huh?"

"They're not really dating. It's just a thing for publicity."

"Wow. They do that really?" Kagami cleared his throat. "Then...is…she looking for a relationship or anything? Do you know?"

"I can ask. 'Would you like to date Kagami Taiga?'" He imitated Momoi's voice in the most dramatic way he could. "'Oh yes, there's nothing I would like more than to be the girlfriend of some hotheaded American expat and basketball fanatic! Please, tell him to come and I'll swoon in his arms!'"

"You're gross," Kagami said, but he was smiling. "But seriously. Don't, uh, ask her that."

Aomine had no intention of getting his nose in Kagami and Momoi's business, but later that night, Momoi texted him: do you think Kagami is interested in me? He texted her back Kagami's number, which they exchanged on Kagami's way back to his place. She didn't respond immediately, but Aomine woke to a simple winky face emoji and forced a grin off his face.

[=]

Inevitably, the SunRockers played the Seahorses. The SunRockers won. Aomine felt a metaphoric tick of a point on his side. From the way Kagami was glaring at him after the game, he knew it was the start of a friendly rivalry. He leered back from his end of the lineup.

The SunRockers held a press conference afterwards. Aomine had been chosen as one of the players to participate and he tried to keep a tired grimace off his face as Imayoshi charmed the interviewers at the center, smiling and looking positively devilish. "If you can't smile and behave on camera," Imayoshi growled before, "then look down at the table and don't speak unless spoken to." In that way, Imayoshi was pretty good at public relations. Rumor had it among the team that Imayoshi worked pretty closely with mousy public relations director, a timid man who bowed a lot and apologized before handing out the media relations information packets.

"Aomine," someone said, and Aomine's head snapped up. "What are your thoughts on the game?"

"It was," Aomine said, feeling the heat of several light bulbs on his face. He could never get used to this kind of thing. "It was pretty good. Offense and defense played pretty well. We could have been a little tighter on defense during the third quarter but overall, a solid game."

"Do you have anything to say about the Seahorses's new addition, Kagami Taiga? He's slated to be the Seahorses's new ace."

Aomine scoffed. "Kagami's nothing compared to me. I look forward to when he'll be an actual challenge." He knew Imayoshi would chew him out for that comment and he would look mean-spirited and confrontational, but Kagami would catch wind of it and probably increase his practices by tenfold. The mass turned their attention away and Aomine lowered his head again.

One of the last questions was directed to him again. "Aomine," the woman said, dressed too fancy to be part of the sports journalism world, "we haven't seen you with Kise Ryouta in a long time. You two were spending time together a while ago, weren't you? What happened?"

For a moment, Aomine did not know how to respond. He could feel Imayoshi scowl at him. "I don't see how that's relevant right now," he said. That sounded mature. "We both have our separate schedules and I'm focused on basketball and he's focused on shooting his movies." The woman opened her mouth for a followup question but mercifully the conference was brought to a close and Aomine could shuffle away without really thinking about it.

[=]

Aomine went to the SunRockers's certified clinic for what he believed was a pulled muscle along his upper arm. The wait was longer because he could hear Wakamatsu complaining loudly in one of the rooms. Wakamatsu had been on the team a little longer than Aomine and had been supposedly slated to be the ace until Aomine appeared. He thought Wakamatsu had never really forgiven him for that, even if the man begrudgingly accepted his talent and mumbled words of congratulations at him after a good play. The clinic was good in that it offered basketball magazines in the reception area instead of the typical homemaker ones in normal hospitals. Aomine had already read the latest issue of Japan Basketball and settled for effortlessly staring at the television. The talkshow was talking about Horikita Mai's news husband. Aomine sighed to himself. Once upon a time, in his wildest fantasies, he was married to Horikita Mai.

"Aomine, we're ready for you," the receptionist called. He tore his eyes from the way Mai's cardigan accentuated her figure and followed the woman into a room. At that time, the talk show host thanked Mai for her time and called in their next guest.

"I'm very thankful to be here," Kise said.

"We're happy to have you. Now, I'm sure the question on everyone's mind...please tell us about your latest movie. The trailer came out on Tuesday. Our viewers have expressed a lot of interest in it but Takeshi-sensei has been very hush-hush about the whole production. Could you perhaps tell us a little about the work itself?"

"Of course. _After the Degree_ is a bit of a misnomer. It takes place before a university senior's graduation. It's a little bit of a departure from Takeshi-sensei's usual works in that it's a bit more hopeful, but not by much. But I think anything that takes place during this time in a person's life is hopeful. Anyway, I got a little off topic, I apologize."

"No, please go on."

"Essentially it's a...midlife crisis kind of story. I say midlife crisis but given the age, it's more of what torments the protagonist. The main character, Kenta, is saddled with a lot of expectations. His professors have high hopes for him in the academic world but he doesn't want to go into academia. His mother wants him to graduate top of his class and find a job but he isn't actually studying business like she thinks he is. On top of that, he's got major writer's block on his senior thesis and has actually begun to plagiarize parts of his thesis. Don't do that, you college seniors who are watching."

The host laughed. "Furthermore," Kise said, "Kenta has also just realized that the classes he took during his first year at the university don't actually count toward his credits so he either has to take on a fifth year or drop out so he isn't further financially burdening his family. It's very complicated. He bounces back between satisfying what others want of him and doing what he thinks he wants. Which unfortunately, he doesn't know either."

"Ah, so a slice of life story."

"I don't know about that. It's based on Takeshi-sensei's experiences with students at the Tokyo University of the Arts. He's hoping to make it relatable to a younger audience since most of his other films are geared toward a more adult audience. Well, when I say younger, I really mean people in their twenties. I'm not sure I'd like a child to watch what happens."

"Oh ho! That sounds very exciting. Do you think as Kenta, you portray a very relatable character?"

"I think Kenta is a pretty unique case, but I think the anxiety of being in your twenties is very relatable for people who have gone through that. There's a sense of apprehension for the unknown and a sort of wistfulness for the past."

"Hmm. Very deep. Could you relate yourself to your character?"

"In a way. I didn't go to university so I had to accompany sensei to campus to really get a feel of what college students go through. It's very fun! I had a good time. But the sense of uncertainty is something I've been feeling so it wasn't too difficult."

"Uncertainty? Over what, may I ask?"

"Oh, a lot of things. I think people in the media have a lot of things to be worried about."

"Of course, of course."

"But working with sensei has been very good. Everyone on set has been very supportive. Playing college students taking off the rosy colored glasses is exciting for everyone."

"We're all excited for the movie, I'm sure." The audience cheered and Kise offered a dazzling smile at the camera. "Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to ask you something a viewer sent me after I announced your visit to my show. She wants to know how your relationship with Ms. Momoi is going."

Kise laughed. "It's great. She's a wonderful person to be around."

"Are you guys flirting on set?"

He winked. "There are some things a gentleman can't tell." Squeals came from the audience. "But of course, work is work. We're both professionals and we do our jobs to the best of our abilities."

"Yes, definitely. Speaking of professional work, stars have to take breaks as well. We learned about your prowess on the basketball court a while back. Could you tell us about that?"

"Sure. I played in high school. It's a pretty engaging sport. Also you look very cool when you play basketball. That's what I thought, at least."

"The photos of you certainly seem so! Do you still play?"

"Occasionally. I didn't play for a while but I started again recently. It's hard to get back into it! You have to think a lot more than if you're just working with a trainer. But it's still as fun as I remember."

"You were seen playing with SunRockers player Aomine Daiki. Could you tell us about your relationship with him? How did you meet him?"

"He's actually Momoi's friend. They've known each other for a long time. She thought we would get along since we both played basketball. Aomine-san is a really good guy and he's a very good player. He's…" Kise paused, as if looking for words. "...a very good friend of mine. I wish we could see each other more but our schedules won't allow it."

"Ah, so it's almost like a Romeo and Juliet situation but with basketball."

"You could say that! Sometimes when I'm on set and I'm on break, I think about playing basketball with him." Kise ducked his head. "That's a little embarrassing to say, isn't it? But it's true, I assure you."

"I'm sure if Aomine-san is watching, he would be very flattered to hear you say that."

"Yeah. If you're watching…" Kise turned to the camera and cocked his head ever so slightly, a blink away from charming. "I hope we get to play each other again soon. I have still yet to beat you and my reputation's on the line!"

"Yes! Thank you so much for coming. _After the Degree_ is coming out in theaters on the 28th! Please look forward to it!"

[=]

Aomine thought it was high time that he finally admitted something about himself, and that something was that he probably had some kind of romantic feeling for Kise Ryouta. He thought that after Momoi had him over for a movie night and said, right in the middle of the opening credits, that she and Kagami began dating. He watched her twirl her hair and smile openly and thought he had been kidding himself this whole time. He was enamored with Kise, and this was a feeling he'd had since they met. Sure, at first it might have been a sort of amazement, but now he was pretty sure he had the type of fondness toward him that he did not have toward Momoi or Kagami but the intensity was there. The whole love-at-first-sight was irrational but it only worked to make him feel so much better about their one-on-ones and the fact that Kise had wanted to spend so much time out of his schedule with him. "Fuck," Aomine said.

"Uh," Momoi said, "is that a problem?"

"Huh? Oh. About you and Kagami? Nah. That's kind of cute, actually. How did it happen?"

"A few days ago. We've been spending some time together. Now that the movie is finally technically finished they don't really need me on set as much anymore. He lives near a very nice udon place."

"You've gone on dates and stuff?"

"A few. He's so sweet, Daiki. He's also so awkward, but I like that about him." She sighed and stared listlessly at the movie. "Since I'm just a makeup artist and he's a basketball player, we're not the top on the list of gossip magazines, so it's been easy, but I'm glad the production is almost over. Kise and I can separate and I can keep this under the radar. The paparazzi love him. His manager says we should have at least a few good parting shots before we call it quits."

"I'm happy for you," Aomine said, and he meant it.

"Me too."

A few weeks later, Momoi invited him to the exclusive pre-release screening of After the Degree. "Bring Taiga, won't you?" she asked. "That's really the main reason I want you to come. I know you couldn't care less about the movie, but it would be weird for me to invite him, right? He's really excited about it; he says he wants to see my work."

"What a cheese ball," Aomine said, but he texted Kagami about the tickets and was responded to with many exclamation marks and a barrage of questions. In the end, he went over and helped Kagami dress himself. As someone who had to relearn how to wear a suit and everything that was involved in that sort of thing, he could sympathize. Kagami didn't seem to be familiar with it either. They came ten minutes late, right after the movie had started.

"What took you so long?" Momoi hissed. She had two empty seats next to her. Aomine offered Kagami first dibs and predictably, the man sat next to Momoi.

"This idiot doesn't know his right from his left foot," Aomine whispered.

"I do," Kagami hissed. Momoi patted his hand, very quickly, and this pacified him. Aomine looked beyond her for a moment and saw she was sitting next to Kise.

"Hello," Kise mouthed from two seats down. The room was already dark and the screen only did so much to light his face. Aomine saw the way he wore his hair was a little different. He only nodded in response and turned back to the screen.

The film was alright; forgettable, in Aomine's opinion. He wasn't a huge fan of collegiate settings in the first place. His only real memories at the community college was playing on their basketball team, and he commuted from home and his mother fed him every night. Speaking of which, he ought to pay her a visit soon. Kagami fidgeted next to him. "When's she coming back," he whispered.

"Soon," Aomine said. They were standing in the corner of the reception room. Critics and guests alike were collected in small groups, speaking animatedly of the film. They were the odd ones out, it seemed - two burly, clearly athletically built men standing around in suits that did not suit them. No one recognized them yet, or if they did, were opting to ignore them over the work of art they had just experienced. Momoi came through the crowd, holding three flutes of champagne.

"Sorry to keep you waiting!" she said, beaming. "There was a line. Did you like the film?"

"It was great," Kagami insisted. He had to say stuff like that. Aomine didn't bother to offer his opinion; he knew Momoi knew it from his body language. Kise, who had been trailing behind her, walked up.

"It's nice to see you again," he said slowly. Aomine saw the trajectory of his hand before and - Kise was touching his shoulder, a faint pressure on his arm, warm and carefully affectionate. The hand stayed on his arm for a moment longer before withdrawing. "How have you been?"

Aomine shrugged. "Alright. The usual. Playing basketball and stuff."

Kise's smile was wan. "Good. I'm glad you could make it here today." It sounded all like a pretense, like he was forcing himself to go through this smalltalk. Aomine did not think it was because Kise wanted to be anywhere else; on the contrary, the way he hung back and looked at him suggested he had more to say but did not want to talk in front of everyone else. Aomine spared a glance at Momoi, who understood immediately.

"Come on, Kagami-san, let's go check out the finger food."

Kagami offered a confused look at Aomine, who did not return it. Instead, he said, "Let's find a quieter place to talk."

A quieter place happened to be a small, empty conference room down the hall from the reception area. The door sign said vacant and the lights were off when they entered. Kise slid the tag to read occupied. The large conference table in the room was made with a painstakingly polished wood, the chairs a fine leather. Aomine did not feel like sitting down.

"I know you're mad at me," Kise began.

"I was. Not really anymore." Aomine pushed his hands into his pockets, leaning against the table so it pressed against the tops of his thighs. Kise was still standing at the door a little apprehensively. "It's hard to be still fully mad at someone after months." The depth of his statement sank in. He had been harboring simmer feelings for months.

"I'm sorry," Kise said. "It wasn't fair to you to cut off all contact with you or at least...cut it down. That's why it's….hard for me to form any sort of meaningful relationship with anyone who isn't in the business. Things like work and professional obligations always end up getting in the way. I'm policed and I police myself. I should have said something before we started spending time together and playing basketball."

Aomine looked at him. "That's manipulative and you know it."

Kise was quiet. "Yeah, I guess it is," he said finally. "But you wouldn't fall for it even if that was my intention."

"You didn't contact me at all."

"I thought it was pretty clear when you hung up on me whether or not contacting you was a good idea." Kise was staring at the floor now. "Look, I liked it, okay? Spending time with you and playing ball. It was different than what I do day to day. I like the field of work I'm in and I wouldn't trade it for anything but sometimes I need to get away. You didn't treat me any differently and you didn't take it easy on me. You know I'm not really dating Momoi for real and so...sometimes when we were hanging out and there was a lull in the silence, I'd ask about you. I don't know if she told you or not." Maybe she did, or she would, if Aomine had not immediately changed the subject whenever she discussed Kise with him. "I watched your game against the Seahorses. You were great."

"Why are you telling me all this?"

"I don't know. I feel like I need to."

Aomine looked at the floor too. There was carpeting in the conference room. It was a beige, red, and blue pattern. There were tiny flecks of red and blue on the beige. "You were good in that movie too," he said. Kise looked up, his expression unreadable.

"Thank you."

"And-" There were things he could have said, a line-by-line response to what Kise had just said, but suddenly he was feeling so tired. Kagami and Momoi would be wondering where he was. "Forget it."

"Aomine…"

"You wanted to watch that one movie, right? _Behind the Plum Blossoms_?"

"_Between_...but yes."

"Let's watch it." He could feel Kise's eyes on him. "Yeah? Now that you're done shooting. When are you free? Your place or mine?"

Aomine could taste the hesitation by the way Kise opened his mouth several times in an attempt to respond. "You don't have to," he blurted. "I...it was just a whim. I didn't think...I don't think…"

"It's fine. When are you free?"

Another silence hung between them. "Tuesday," Kise said. "Tuesday at eight. My place is fine."

[=]

Kise Ryouta lived in a large mansion off the beaten path in Tokyo, according to the tabloids where his picture next to his house was plastered, but on Tuesday night, Kise directed him to a penthouse in Ota. On the top floor, Aomine could see the lights of Tokyo at a distance. The penthouse clearly saw some use; the kitchen was messy and the living room with the large television felt homely and well-sat in. Kise explained he used this penthouse as a getaway from the main city, as not many people knew about it and he could bring people to entertain at his leisure. He got them both a Kirin and extracted Between the Plum Blossoms from his extensive movie library and put it in his Bluray player. As they skipped through the previews for the main menu, Aomine noticed Kise slowly manage his way over to where he was sitting on the floor. During the opening credits, Kise put his hand on Aomine's, a firm weight flat and heated on his knuckles. While Aomine was running this through his head, Kise leaned over and kissed him on the mouth.

"Please," Kise said, when he broke away and Aomine was staring at him with a look in incredible incredulation, "tell me I didn't misread things and make a mistake."

"You didn't," Aomine said, operating mainly by instinct now since his brain was taking longer than usual to process Kise Ryouta kissed me. "But for how long?"

"Since we first met, probably. I thought...it was a good thing to be dating Momoi if I could see you on a regular basis. The tabloids really made a mess, but I thought…" He averted his eyes downward. "...the pictures of us looked good, like we looked right together. When we had that talk, I thought it was probably for the best that I get over you but…"

"If you're going to use this as an excuse to excuse yourself being a royal asshole again, you have another thing coming," Aomine said and jerked Kise forward again for another kiss. The main male lead came on screen and delivered an impassioned speech. The camera panned out to reveal branches upon branches of blooming plum blossoms. Then, in the midst of the purple petals - a figure in a kimono and a flash of a smile.


End file.
